Profiles
It’s an open book – as well it should be. We’re talking about the design concept behind Omaha’s new Central Library – and at the heart of its very mission.
To provide a welcoming space for all people...
A fresh morning drizzle on Saturday either lended to or came from the heavy fog, priced by downtown Omaha’s few skyscrapers. The view from Cummings Street was thankfully unobstructed as I drove to...
It was a hard sell.
I was loitering around in that dark Omaha alleyway, one of those ones that still have those red bricks that bring more character than the unfilled potholes on old concrete. Next...
Omaha has many religious places of worship, but only one Temple of Beauty. Windowless walls of pink Georgia-marble reach high into the air as if to both catch as much sunlight as possible while also...
Walking into a New York City pharmacy, Scott LeRette had no idea how life was about to change for him and his family.
LeRette, author of "The Unbreakable Boy," mentioned to the pharmacist he was an...
Today’s News
BOSTON (AP) — As a Black teenager growing up in Boston, Wayne Lucas vividly remembers joining about 20,000 people to hear the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speak out against the city's segregated...
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Ndeye Lam visits the cemetery often, praying and gently touching the seashells laid out across her daughter’s gravesite.
“Mariama will always be here,” she said, stepping away...
Tags from its maker are seen inside a Dachau-built instrument dubbed the ''violin of hope'', in Magyarpolány, Hungary, Tuesday September 8, 2020. (Szandra Katona via AP)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — During World War II, within the walls of the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, a Jewish prisoner secretly penned a short note and hid it inside a violin he had crafted under...
Pope Francis waves to members of the media as he leaves a synod on family issues at the Vatican, Oct. 10, 2014. (Alessandra Tarantino / AP Photo)
Over 360,000 Catholics call Nebraska home. As a cradle, conflicted and often non-practicing version of that theology, I may have been part of that number. Suffice to say being contrary and asking...
BELLEVUE, Neb. — When Columbus firefighter Aaron Perez saw his local department ready to toss out technically outdated yet still useful firefighting gear, his thoughts drifted to bombero...
This Week's News
04/30/2025 - 12:00am
BOSTON (AP) — As a Black teenager growing up in Boston, Wayne Lucas vividly remembers joining about 20,000 people to hear the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speak out against the city's segregated school system and the entrenched poverty in poor...
04/30/2025 - 12:00am
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Ndeye Lam visits the cemetery often, praying and gently touching the seashells laid out across her daughter’s gravesite.
“Mariama will always be here,” she said, stepping away from the grave and onto a path that winds through...
Tags from its maker are seen inside a Dachau-built instrument dubbed the ''violin of hope'', in Magyarpolány, Hungary, Tuesday September 8, 2020. (Szandra Katona via AP)
04/30/2025 - 12:00am
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — During World War II, within the walls of the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, a Jewish prisoner secretly penned a short note and hid it inside a violin he had crafted under harrowing circumstances — a message to the future...
Pope Francis waves to members of the media as he leaves a synod on family issues at the Vatican, Oct. 10, 2014. (Alessandra Tarantino / AP Photo)
04/30/2025 - 12:00am
Over 360,000 Catholics call Nebraska home. As a cradle, conflicted and often non-practicing version of that theology, I may have been part of that number. Suffice to say being contrary and asking questions is part of my DNA, a trait journalists find...
04/30/2025 - 12:00am
BELLEVUE, Neb. — When Columbus firefighter Aaron Perez saw his local department ready to toss out technically outdated yet still useful firefighting gear, his thoughts drifted to bombero counterparts in his Mexican hometown of Zacapu.
It took...
Nebraska’s unemployment rate for March, reported on Friday, ticked down a bit while the nation’s inched upward. (Courtesy of Nebraska Department of Labor)
04/29/2025 - 7:00am
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s latest unemployment rate ticked down a bit, to 2.9%, after having reached the 3% mark in February for the first time since during the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2020.
The Nebraska Department of Labor on Friday announced March...
(Tim Hynds / Sioux City Journal via AP)
04/29/2025 - 6:00am
Many Nebraskans are feeling pressure right now. Whether you’re a working parent in Scottsbluff, a small business owner in Omaha or one of the many farmers like myself in between, one word sums up the current economic mood: uncertainty.
Everyone’s...
The entrance to the Labor Department is seen near the Capitol in Washington, May 7, 2020. (J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo)
04/29/2025 - 5:00am
Labor Department Official Warns That Staff Who Speak With Journalists Face “Serious Legal Consequences”
by Mark Olalde
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this...
04/29/2025 - 4:00am
LINCOLN — A revised bill aimed at plugging Nebraska’s budget gap by about $51 million, largely by clawing back several business incentives, sparked intense exchanges and nearly three hours of debate Thursday before it advanced another lawmaking step...
04/29/2025 - 3:00am
NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk has been called a Moonshot Master, the Edison of Our Age and the Architect of the Future, but he's got a big problem at his car company and it's not clear he can fix it: damage to its brand.
Sales have plunged for Tesla...
Ryan Kelley speaks at the Jackson County Republican headquarters, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Jackson, Mich. (Paul Sancya / AP Photo)
04/28/2025 - 8:17am
JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — Ryan Kelley thought he had a good shot at becoming Michigan’s governor in 2022. That is, until he was charged with misdemeanors for participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. His campaign sputtered and he finished...
Newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin speaks after winning the vote at the Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting in National Harbor, Md., Feb. 1, 2025. (Rod Lamkey, Jr. / AP Photo)
04/28/2025 - 8:15am
The Democratic National Committee will transfer more than $1 million per month to its state and territorial parties over the next four years in an effort to build state-level infrastructure and operations, the DNC announced Thursday.
The agreement...
04/28/2025 - 8:11am
Molly Pofahl had big plans for the $370,000 in federal money awarded to the East Central District Health Department in March.
They would use the money to provide cleanup for homes with high lead levels in Boone, Colfax, Nance and Platte counties,...
04/25/2025 - 7:00am
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — The District Court of Hall County decided Tuesday to allow criminal charges against a notary public for “official misconduct” to proceed, overturning a lower court decision.
District Judge Andrew Butler, in a 10-page opinion,...
04/25/2025 - 5:00am
The Trump Administration’s War on Children
by Eli Hager
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
The clear-cutting across the federal...
04/25/2025 - 4:00am
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A large crowd of supporters and advocates gathered outside a Vermont courthouse Wednesday to support a Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at Columbia University and was arrested during an...
04/25/2025 - 3:00am
LINCOLN — State lawmakers advanced a proposal Tuesday seeking to define “male” and “female” in state law targeted for K-12 or collegiate bathrooms, sports teams and locker rooms.
Legislative Bill 89, the “Stand With Women Act” from State Sen....
04/24/2025 - 7:00am
OMAHA — Public transit options emerged as a top complaint about the Omaha region in a survey aimed at gaining intel on how to hold onto young professional talent.
Good salary, flexible scheduling and paid time off for sickness and vacation were...
(Shutterstock)
04/24/2025 - 6:00am
Right now in the U.S., it seems that people are more divided than ever, and that sort of notion seems to be the same notion that is had every year. “This year was worse than the last." etc. While that might be true, the things that divide people...
Robyn Redding (from left) and Gianna Holliday plant a sequoia tree seedling as Andrew "Birch" Kemp brings mulch in Detroit, Friday, March 21, 2025. (Paul Sancya / AP Photo)
04/24/2025 - 5:00am
DETROIT (AP) — Arborists are turning vacant land on Detroit's eastside into a small urban forest, not of elms, oaks and red maples indigenous to the city but giant sequoias, the world's largest trees that can live for thousands of years.
The project...
04/24/2025 - 3:00am
LINCOLN — An assessment of restoring the historic Mayhew Cabin and John Brown’s Cave site in Nebraska City estimates it would cost in excess of $20 million to make it a viable attraction again.
Most of the cost, the report indicated, would be...
